“Waiter, what's the healthy special on tonight's menu? Sounds interesting — does it have fewer than 10 grams of fat?”

That might read like the punch line in a magazine cartoon, but soon enough, San Antonio restaurant-goers will be able to pose such questions to better understand the nutritional values, or lack thereof, of what they're ordering at some local restaurants.

While places like New York City and California have already made nutrition labeling policies, the recently passed health-care reform bill mandates chain restaurants across the nation make nutrition information available to consumers. Calorie counts for each menu item will be posted for all to see.

Restaurants are not just for special outings or occasions. We routinely frequent restaurants for meals.

Local health officials, faced with one of the nation's most obese populations and energized with $15.6 million in federal funds to attack childhood obesity, are engaged in a campaign to make dining out a healthier option for adults and children.

Two-thirds of the adult population in Bexar County is overweight or obese and nearly one-third of the county's children are obese, and that number is climbing every year.

“Restaurants wanted to work cooperatively and not be told what to do,” said Kathy Shields, chronic disease prevention manager at the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. “They want to pat themselves on the back because they are already looking at their menus.”

The goal of the new partnership is for restaurants to voluntarily provide diners healthy options that are clearly identified on adult and children's menus. San Antonio restaurateurs are embracing the notion that offering healthy meals might also be good business.

Traditionally, children's menus at most restaurants include fried foods, and serving sizes that vastly exceed daily recommended amounts of calories, sodium and fat. So kid's menus were the partnership's first target.

Pico de Gallo, a near-downtown restaurant that prides itself on catering to locals, volunteered to give its kid's menu a makeover to meet the Healthy Restaurants Coalition's nutrition criteria, including proper portion sizes for kids. Both the owner and health officials agree the new menu sets the right example, and customers like the new choices. Kids are impressionable and can be taught at an early age that healthy foods and sensible portions sizes add up to a positive dining experience.

The next step for Healthy Restaurants Coalition is to tackle the adult options. That will pose a larger challenge as restaurants hesitate to alter recipes or do anything that makes customers believe they are getting less for their money.

Local registered dietitians have established the Healthy Restaurants Coalition's nutrition criteria based on the nationally accepted Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They are working with local restaurants and chains to find or add menu items that meet the criteria for calories, fat, carbohydrates, protein, sodium and no fried food.

A “Por Vida!” logo has been designed to indicate healthy businesses and menu items.

“If a restaurant becomes part of the project, they can use the logo,” Shields said. “We have to be able to defend it in a way we are proud of.”

Interested restaurateurs who want to show customers they care about their health can contact Shields at

Kathleen.shields@sanantonio.gov.

Next week in Taste: Healthy Living columnist Claudia Zapata addresses how menu labeling could be the end of a fast-foodie's blissful ignorance.

Siobhan Walsh is a registered dietitian. Her Smart Choices column appears every other Sunday in Taste. E-mail her at siobhanrd@yahoo.com.